Welcome to Real Debate Wisconsin (RDW). This is primarily a conservative blog but we always welcome input from all points of view. Things get heated upon occasion but we ask that our readers do their best to keep things civil and respect all participants. We always welcome guest posts, so if there is something you would like to share feel free to email me at fkd1015 at yahoo dot com.

This weekly series is an attempt to shine a light on a problem that is bigger than anyone wants to realize, people who we have entrusted with the care of our children preying upon them.

I'll provide my usual disclaimer, the vast majority of teachers are good people who are likely more enraged by the actions of their peers than you are. This post is not an attack on teachers in general.

When will the media stand up and start paying this problem the attention it deserves? When we get outraged.

Peter Lamana, 41, a former teacher at Boyertown High School in Boyertown, Pennsylvania has been found guilty of one count of sexual abuse of children. The charge and conviction are the result of the jury finding that Lamana possessed videos of children engaged in sex acts.

Aaron Scott Fusselman, 25, a government teacher and boys’ lacrosse coach at Sebastian River High School in Sebastian, Florida has been charged with lewd and lascivious molestation of a 15-year-old female student.

Richard Angulo, 34, a math teacher and freshman baseball coach at Centennial High School in Corona, California has been arrested on two counts of lewd and lascivious acts with a child younger than 14 and two counts of continued sexual abuse of a child younger than 14.

Chad Roby, 34, a former 6th-grade English and social studies teacher at River Trails Middle School in Mt. Prospect, Illinois has pleaded guilty and been sentenced on one count of possession of child pornography.

Daniel R. Callan, 25, a 5th grade teacher at St. Bernadette School in Appleton, Wisconsin has been arrested on allegations that he sexually assaulted a 10-year-old male student.

Noelle Pannell, 31, a teacher at Carver Middle School in Monroe, Georgia has been arrested for alleged inappropriate contact with a 7th-grade male student. Pannell is reportedly charged with sexual exploitation and child molestation, although investigators say there was no sex between Pannell and the alleged victim

William “Bill” Booze, 27, a special education teacher at Meadowbrook High School in Byesville, Ohio has been arrested and charged with two counts of sexual battery of a 14-year-old female.

Anastasia Pappas, 40, a former teacher at Blackhawk Middle School in Glendale Heights, Illinois has been charged with having sex with a 15-year-old boy who was previously Pappas student in the fifth-grade.

Kendric Stewart, 32, a former social studies teacher and coach at Saint Helena Parish Central High School in Greensburg, Louisiana has pleaded no contest to simple battery after being accused of grabbing a female student’s buttocks.

Christi Lee Williams, 30, a teacher at Montcalm High School in Montcalm, West Virginia has been arrested on allegations of the abduction and sexual abuse of a 16-year-old male student.

Michael Gogerty, 41, of Las Vegas, Nevada and a fifth grade teacher at Hafen Elementary School in Pahrump, Nevada has been charged with possessing and receiving child pornography over the Internet.

Yona Weinberg, 29, a teacher’s assistant at a Jewish School in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn, New York has been arrested on allegations of molesting two boys, 13 and 14-years-old, during their religious studies at a synagogue school.

Dana I. Goodman, 38, principal of Sussex Central High School in Georgetown, Delaware has been arrested and charged with numerous counts alleging the rape and continual sexual abuse of a 17-year-old female student

Thomas Arthur Beltran, 60, a seventh-grade English teacher at Lincoln Middle School in Santa Monica, California has been arrested on suspicion of sexually abusing at least four female students, according to police.

Michael Ashburn, a science teacher and coach at Guion Creek Middle School in Indianapolis, Indiana has been arrested and now faces five counts of obscene performance and one count of solicitation the result of any Internet sting.

Which party blocked the development of new sources of petroleum?-- DemocratWhich party blocked drilling in ANWR?-- DemocratWhich party blocked drilling off the coast of Florida?-- DemocratWhich party blocked drilling off of the east coast?-- DemocratWhich party blocked drilling off of the west coast?-- DemocratWhich party blocked drilling off the Alaskan coast?-- DemocratWhich party blocked building oil refineries?-- DemocratWhich party blocked clean nuclear energy production?-- DemocratWhich party blocked clean coal production?-- Democrat

Which party always blames someone else and never accepts responsiblity?-- Democrat

Another Democrat Governor who just keeps on givin' even well after he's gone....

Not only did Tony Earl leave us a disastrous business climate upon his exodus from the East Wing, but apparently he has recently left us a very expensive pearl.

Not a real pearl, mind you, but a $350,000 gem of a lawsuit settlement that will be paid by taxpayers. No, Ms. Taxpayer, you can't wear this gem around your neck. We'll just have to "shell out" the dollars without the benefit of the glamor.

There are so many blatantly political favors going on in the story, I just linked it to the title of this post. It shocks me that the democrats are so brazen in the way they hand out their "favors," not even caring that the guys they're shilling for have NO EXPERIENCE in the field for which they're being hired! And, on top of it all, even passing up a clearly qualified hispanic candidate--all because this guy was the nephew of Tony Earl's friend.

Now, before the lefties start screeching "Tommy Did It, Too!" I want to see your evidence. I want you to show me where Tommy, or any other Repub for that matter, was busted for the type of behavior documented in this article or Doyle's Travelgate fiasco, or Kenosha Casinogate, etc., etc....

Then again, maybe the voters don't really care about this stuff. After all, they did re-elect Doyle. So much for standards in public office. Thanks again, President Clinton.

Hi, folks, and welcome to Eternal Questions. Today’s question is this: “Are they trying to alienate their audience on purpose?”

Up first: best-selling author Steven King!

If you don’t learn to read, then you’ll be sent to die in the desert in Iraq because the only job you can get is as a mercenary soldier fighting an illegal, unpopular war. But you’ll deserve that wretched death in the desert, you fascist pig. So there's my commercial for that.

With a thought process like that, it’s amazing that he’s not had more of his stories turned into crappy movies.

Up next: Political candidate Barack Obama!

I am so tired of these gun-toting, inbred hicks who stand against our Progressive Revolution and keep us from shearing them like the sheep they are. I wish they’d just shut up and vote Obama.

Gee, I hope those gap-toothed rednecks don’t do something crazy like vote for the other guy come November!

Last, but by no means least: hot-headed crank and suspected Republican John McCain!

If there’s one thing I learned from the immigration debate, it’s that my party is full of bigoted morons who refuse to do as I tell them. Secure the borders, pfft! When has that ever worked in the history of the world?

At least he didn’t call GOP members the c-word, so maybe he’s learning to tame that wild temper.

Be sure to tune in next time, when we’ll ask the eternal question: “If anti-war movies hemorrhage money, then why are there so many of them?”

(All quotes are from memory and may not be verbatim, but pretty accurately reflect the sentiment)

Pointers for Life is a right-to-life group at UW-Stevens Point whose leader is funded by Wisconsin Right to Life.

It what they deemed a moving visual demonstration of abortion in America, Pointers set up a Cemetery of Innocents display on campus consisting of 4,000 crosses to depict the number of human lives lost each day to abortion.

Overnight, the display was vandalized with crosses slashed and broken. As several Pointers' members were repairing the display, a group of displeased students, led by student Senator Roderick King, began to yell at them and debate with them. They demanded to know who authorized the cross project.

Not satisfied with answers, King and his friends began pulling hundreds of crosses from the ground and tossing them away. Pointers then called Protective Services, knowing their project had been properly approved.

King claimed that Pointers for Life had "no right" to display the crosses and that it was "his duty as a paying student" to take it down. "The freedom of speech does not cover these signs and symbols," he claimed. When Protective Services stepped in, King's friends stopped but King continued until he was informed that unless he ceased, he would have to pay for the damages.The Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs eventually restored order. Pointers for Life submitted a complaint to the student association, asking that King resign or be disciplined.

"We wonder what caused such intolerance and disrespect," said Barbara Lyons, Executive Director of Wisconsin Right to Life. "It is hard to understand why a group of white crosses would trigger such an extreme response from King."

They are doing a fantastic job of covering local events and local politics. I have a cordial relationship with Dustin, Pete I don't really know but I'd like to.

I am calling out the Racine Post to admit their liberal bias. It is OK to be liberal guys, you just look silly claiming to be objective.

For example, when Linda Flashinski announced she is running against Robin Vos she got a huge headline on the main page plus a big companion piece on their blog.

The next day when Vos put out his release that he is seeking re-election he got a small link to Caledonia Unplugged's publication of Vos' release, no mention on the blog.

Related stories on successive days treated very differently. Is Vos seeking re-election as big a story as someone running against him? I think so. I held off on Vos' announcement because I was really curious to see how the Racine Post would handle it.

To their credit, the Racine Post does cover both sides and they try and play it fairly, but their bias shines through so clearly sometimes it is truly a stark comparison.

I read the Racine Post daily and this is not intended to be an attack but an encouragement to improve what they are already doing. You guys don't work for the paper anymore, you are running your own thing and it is OK to admit your own biases. I think it would make the Racine Post even better.

Thank you for your dedication to protecting our environment. Clean air and clean water are essential to preserving life on planet Earth. Protecting all species and natural lands and forests are admirable priorities. Recycling and a green lifestyle are wonderful. Making the environment the most important thing in your life is a good thing, not a problem. I support you.

But we do have a problem. You have vigorously embraced the Global Warming predictions of the United Nation’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and are using the warning of uncontrollable warming and a resulting environmental calamity to campaign for elimination of fossil fuels. Your environmentally conscious friends in politics and in the media have united with you to create a barrage of news reports, documentaries, TV feature reports, movies, books, concerts and protest events to build support for your goals. The war against fossil fuels has become a massive scare campaign that is giving children nightmares.

Here’s what’s wrong with that: the science is not valid. There is no Global Warming underway and the science on which the computer projections of weather chaos are based is wrong. Dead wrong.

I know many scientists are part of your movement and they have tried hard to give your uncontrollable climate change panic a scientific basis. The UN Climate Change Panel has a large staff, a big budget, a headquarters in Geneva and a strong champion in Al Gore to lead the charge. And thousands of well-intentioned politicians and the media of the world have supported your movement. It must seem to you that there can be no doubt: fossil fuels are destroying the environment and will lead to uncontrollable global warming unless we act now. With all that powerful support for your anti-fossil fuel movement, and with the worthy goal of saving the planet from the disastrous consequences of runaway Global Warming, how can you fail?

Here’s how: The science behind your global warming scare is bad and no anthropogenic global warming is happening. Dissenting scientists have now produced convincing evidence that the cornerstone of your scientific argument, increased atmospheric carbon dioxide forcing a rapid, irreversible rise in temperature, is invalid. All of the various “signs of global warming” you have so widely publicized have been proven wrong. They are normal variations in climate that result mostly from the cycles of the Sun. As the Sun cycle has changed in the last three or four years, they have reversed themselves. Arctic ice melting and polar bears dying, shrinkage of glaciers and the rise of ocean levels, increased intensity and number of hurricanes and intensified droughts have all been touted as signs of global warming. They are not. They are part of this natural variation in climate. The intensified hurricane claim never happened. Katrina was an isolated, random event. The droughts are part of the natural cycle and are reversing at this time. Glaciers are stabilizing. The Arctic ice cap is already back to normal.

Here is what I am suggesting you do. Campaign for your environmental goals on the basis of their own merit. Let go of the global warming frenzy before it leaves you discredited and embarrassed. Stop screaming, “The sky is falling.” It is not.

Do your good work. Devote your lives to our environment. In many ways you will succeed. We are all grateful for your love of the planet. But, don’t use scare tactics.

Most of all I urge you not to become extremists. And, may I encourage you to live your lives in a loving way, love your fellow human beings and our wonderful advanced standard of living and way of life as much as you love the Earth.

My very best regards,

John Coleman

P.s. - If you will read my briefs on the science that debunks the global warming frenzy and follow the links there, you will begin to realize the folly of Global Warming.

May 5, 2008

So, here we go. Robin Vos has an opponent. Sorry, I must use the word loosely, here. Ms. Flashinski, the former miscommunications director for RUSD, has thrown her hat in the ring for the seat. So, I gotta wonder, is this the best the dem's could come up with?

Wouldn't you rather have someone without the negative baggage of having to shill for the school district's countless referenda? Or someone who didn't have to keep a straight face when speaking on behalf of the esteemed SuperIntelligent-Intendant Hicks?

Maybe they think "name i.d." is good in all cases? Hmmm, nope. Not in this case. I mean, they don't think that people in this assembly district (which happens to be what I call a 600% republican district) care more about butler garter snakes than job creation, want universal health care, and jillions of more unaccounted for dollars for the school district, do they?

SourcesBaptist Ministers must never be quoted in the paper under any circumstances, unless they use the C-word or are Mike Huckabee, in which case they may be quoted with abandon.

Greg Packer remains the official go-to average guy.

Party AffiliationIn order to save ink, only Republicans will have their parties identified in stories accompanying scandal, and only Democrats will have their parties identified when discussing successful government initiatives.

I've been asked to fill in as well and my first column at Fox Politics will appear tomorrow. I must say, I am really proud of this first column, so please go and read it. (I'll provide a link after Jo publishes).

The three of us (and apparently Jo only knows who else) are helping Jo keep things fresh at Fox Politics while she runs for the State Assembly.

Burri, Dooley and Wigderson. Wow, what a powerhouse lineup! Well, two out of three anyway.